CASTLE Hotel Group has bought thehistoric Fishers Hotel in Pitlochry in a £3 million deal. Dublin-based Castle bought the 130-bedroom hotel from lasalle Investments, part of the Jones Lang Lasalle group.

Castle said it will now spend £3 million refurbishing the Fisher Hotel, and work is already underway, with 80 of the hotels rooms now closed for upgrade.

Managing director and majority shareholder in Castle, Fionn MacCumhaill, said: “Fishers is operating now with 50 good bedrooms, and as each room is refurbished we’ll be adding that on again.

“I came out of retirement to buy this hotel because I didn’t want to see it deteriorate in the middle of Pitlochry.

“It’s a gorgeous hotel, it just never got the right attention. We’re going to convert it into a bright, cheery, happy place; we’ll give it a new lease of life.”

Castle Hotel Group also owns the four-star , 90-bedroom Atholl Palace Hotel, also based in Pitlochry.

Fionn MacCumhaill added: “I am confident that local people will be very pleased to see it upgraded and become a real talking point for the town once again.

“I am very proud of what has been achieved at the Atholl Palace, it’s a hotel very close to my heart and I hope to achieve something similarly impressive with Fishers as well as bringing extra jobs and investment to Highland Perthshire.”

Castle Hotel Group operates five hotels in Dublin as well as its two hotels in Pitlochry and a hotel in Wales.